KuroFai Vignettes
by Miss Nova
Summary: Just a series of seven short clips in which Kurogane and Fai interact. Kplus for language. Starts out short, gets longer.
1. It all starts with a lullaby

**[AN] Title kinda stolen from Nightwish's Escapist. **

_It all starts with a lullaby_

He was singing, he noticed, eyes glued to the ceiling as, in the next room, a sweet voice sang a foreign song. Like that whistle, this song surprised him. It's not as if he didn't think the idiot could sing, but that, the few times he'd heard him, it was terrible. It clicked in his mind that the mage had been faking his musical ineptitude just as he faked that stupid smile. Afraid the voice would stop if he so much as rolled over; Kurogane lay motionless until he fell asleep. Only then did Fai stop singing.


	2. It's all a game of chase

_It's all a game of chase on a giant merry-go-round_

"Hyuu! Hyuu! Kuro-pi's chasing me!" he called over his shoulder, pleased with the result of earlier teasing.

"Damn it mage!" Kurogane yelled, feigning annoyance, when, really, inside, he relished these daily chases. For one, it was a good way to stay in shape. He chased Fai around the house, bits of tomato dripping off his face.

It was all the same to him, these worlds. He felt like he was running in circles, never really getting anywhere. Land in a world, threaten the manjuu, chase the mage, get a job, look for the feather, and go to the next world. Over and over. It was getting a bit boring, to be honest.

But right now, there was tomato in his hair and a crazy-ass mage to be chased.


	3. Chocolate cures it all

_Chocolate cures it all_

Poke. Poke. Pokepokepoke. Pat. Pokepokepat.

"What?" he yelled, turning to face the mage, who was demanding his attention. He ended up with a mouthful of fudge and a temper flaring high. "How many times have I told you not to do that, idiot!"

"Is it good?" Fai asked, smiling innocently.

"The hell it's good!" he yelled, refusing to admit that it was actually pretty good. For a sugary treat. Instead, he opted to chase a laughing mage through the gardens yet again.

"Nee, Kuro-rin, you didn't answer my question!" he called from the high branches of a tree. "Was it good?"

"It was edible" he conceded "for chocolate."

"Yay"


	4. Tell me why the angels cry

_Tell me why the angels cry_

Two girls crying in the rain-drenched rubble of what was once a house. The princess noticed first, running toward them and dragging the kid behind her. The mage was next, whipping off his coat as he ran to them. One girl looked like she could have been from Nihon, except for her pale skin. She was holding a blonde girl with the same pale skin. The blonde held tight to her sister, who didn't look like she'd be releasing her any time soon. They were both saturated with rain and magic. Their power made Kurogane's hair stand on end.

The mage was talking to them, touching the dark-haired girl gently. He had wrapped his coat around the blonde—likely at the Japanese girl's suggestion—so Kurogane volunteered his cape—before the mage did—to wrap around the other.

It was then that he smelled it, kneeling next to the girls—under the magic and fear, death. He touched the mage's hand, he nodded. He could smell it, too.

Later, when the kids—including the twin girls—were asleep, the mage explained what the dark-haired girl, Ellie, had told him. Somebody had come into their house with intent to harm. They were both frightened and their magic activated, reacting with the other's and destroying everything. They hadn't meant to kill, though the other man had. It just happened. And so, they did the only thing they could: they held each other and cried.


	5. It's all a dream of two young girls

**[AN] The phrase about nothing being as it seems was accidentally nabbed from Owl City's Fireflies. I didnt want to change it though.**

_It's all a dream of two young girls_

"Ever wonder if there's some great, master plan for all this, Kuro-nii?" the mage asked, being uncommonly deep.

"If there is, I want to know what sick bastard thought it all up"

"What if they weren't trying to be sick?" Fai asked, leaning back onto his elbows and staring at the sky. "What if they were trying to make life interesting?"

Kurogane looked at Fai. He wasn't sure why he couldn't look away, it was just so. He supposed it was the small, rare smile on the mage's face that caught him. He sighed, deciding to lie back onto the grass.

"Maybe. I still think they're sick, sadistic little bastards"

"I wonder what they'd look like?" Typical idiot mage, to ask that question.

Kurogane decided to play along. "They'd have bad teeth and an eye patch" he said, smiling "With soulless eyes and an annoying omniscient grin"

"No" Fai said, lying back next to Kurogane "I think they'd look like innocent little girls. Everything's never as it seems, you know."

He thought of the mage's ever-present grin and how, mostly, he acted like an idiot, though that wasn't truly him.

"Don't I know it" he agreed, nudging the mage's hand with his own, Fai just laughed.


	6. A ninja's secret is not his own

_A ninja's secret is not his own_

"Kuro-pin!" a light, airy voice called, causing Kurogane to smirk. Damn mage couldn't leave him alone for long, could he? "Kuro-ro" he said as he walked into the living room "Nihon. Tell me about it. I told you some about Celes"

"Nihon, hm?" Fai nodded, sitting on the couch sideways and folding his legs. "Not much to tell. What do you want to know?"

"Mm. Tell me about…your princess." Fai requested

Kurogane told him all about Tomoyo-hime; told him about his past; told him about his life in Suwa, and in the castle.

"Kuro-myu? Tell me…tell me…did you…did anyone…ever go just to…to hurt you?

"I never asked."  
"Your princess, is she going to get married?"

"That's not my secret, mage. I've told you all mine" Kurogane took a swig of sake and passed to bottle to Fai. They'd been at this a while and Fai was looking sleepy. Maybe this onslaught of questions would end soon.

"No you haven't" Fai protested drunkenly "I haven't asked you some. The ones I really want to know"

"Well, ask" He was getting nervous, now. Hadn't he told the mage everything? Even about his parents and how they died?

"Did you—hic—have a lover? In Nihon?"

Simple question. "No"

"Aww! That's so sad! Kuro-sama must have had all the girls wrapped! Did you love anyone?" he asked as he tilted forward and passed out on Kurogane's chest.

Another simple question.

"Yes," he whispered as he picked up the mage to take him to bed. "I love Tomoyo. But not like that. Now I've told you everything."

There was a soft "Yay" from the vicinity of his left shoulder. He looked down to see a soft smile on the mage's face. Something in him sang at having made the mage happy.

"Sleep" he tells Fai unnecessarily. He's already passed out.


	7. Eyes oceanblue, and just as deadly

_Eyes ocean-blue, and just as deadly_

"Oi, mage" Kurogane said, handing him a bottle of beer and sitting down next to him. The game of twenty questions had become a sort of ritual between the mage and the ninja. For an hour, after the kids had gone to bed, they would sit and ask each other whatever came to mind. Answers weren't guaranteed, but at least they had the chance to talk without the kids.

"You ever had a lover?" the ninja asks "Back in Celes?"

Fai laughed and Kurogane knew immediately he wasn't going to get an answer.  
"What kind of question is that, Kuro-bun?"

"Same kind you asked me"

Fai nodded and turned away. No. He was getting no answers tonight, to that particular question at least.

"Yes" Fai's voice surprised Kurogane, who was preparing another question. "I have"

"You gonna tell me who?"

"You can guess who, easily"

Fai turned to him and smiled, small and sad, but true, and Kurogane felt as if he was going to drown in the blue of the mage's eyes, gentle and loving, with some self-reprimand flickering through.

"If I think about it, I'd probably get pissed" Kurogane heard himself saying.

Fai still hadn't broken eye contact, and apparently, what Kurogane said pleased him, because Fai was smiling widely and leaning forward. The next thing he knew, Fai had his arms wrapped around his neck and was nuzzling him, sending sparks through his veins.

"Kuro-koi?"

Kurogane sighed. Another damned question, even though he just wanted this moment to continue. "What?" he asked. Best to get this over with, he was thinking, though he softened the blow by putting his arms around the smaller man.

"Kuro-koi? Do you love me?"

Same nickname twice in a row, Kurogane noted, impressed. Then the question sunk in. Did he love Fai? It was a good question. He liked him, sure, and he thought of him as a friend. Then Fai raised his eyes and met the ninja's red ones and he knew the answer. It was a good question, but certainly not a difficult one.

"Yes"

"Yay" Fai whispered as he leaned in to kiss him. As they kissed, Kurogane came to the conclusion that he'd give anything to keep this forever. He would die for those eyes, and that man.


End file.
